The Nuttiest Post About Chuck Hagel

The voices inside the head of Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin are unanimous in their dislike for Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska who is the president's nominee for Secretary Of Defense. I think this is an unusual display of harmony for the voices inside Jennifer Rubin's head since, during the presidential campaign just past, all the voices in Jennifer Rubin's head had different opinions regarding Willard Romney. Was he merely awesome? Super awesome? Super-duper awesome? Super-duper-infinity awesome? Or was he a steaming super-duper-infinity awesome hunk of brilliantly coiffed man-meat who could make the bobsleds run on time while hitting Lady Liberty's G-spot until she crooned "Columbia, The Gem Of The Ocean." Now, though, all the voices hate Chuck Hagel. It must be a lot quieter around Rubin's ears these days.

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This latest one is spectacular. The kinks are particularly delicious. We discover that the J-Street Project is "anti-Israel." We discover that Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee is Rubin's idea of what a behavioral psychologist should be, that some folks around the Senate told Tiger Beat On The Potomac that Hagel did some things they didn't like much, and that somebody who writes for the Times Of Israel doesn't have a really good idea of the difference between the job of an elected senator and the job of an appointed Cabinet member and thinks that Hagel is just as unschooled on the subject as the columnist is. And then, of course, there is the learned opposition of former liar-for-hire Ari Fleischer and Bill (Wrong) Kristol, who should be exiled from the public discourse until he has done six months bedpan duty at a VA Hospital.

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And, of course, by way of comparison, we have the saga of poor, misunderstood John Bolton.

You will recall that "temperament" was the basis on which Democrats blocked John Bolton's confirmation as ambassador to the United Nations.

Yes, as regards "temperament" as a measure of qualifications for a job, in Hagel's case, we have the maunderings of Bob Corker on a panel show, and the fact that Hagel took some positions that inconvenienced some other Republicans in the Senate. In Bolton's case, when he was nominated to be UN ambassador, we had, well, this...

There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States.

If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

And, of course, this,

...Many Republicans in Congress - and perhaps a majority - not only do not care about losing the General Assembly vote but actually see it as a 'make my day'outcome. Indeed, once the vote is lost, and the adverse consequences predicted by the U.N.'s supporters begin to occur, this will simply provide further evidence to many why nothing more should be paid to the U.N. system.

I don't think even Rubin can find a link to Hagel's saying, for example, that we should turn the Pentagon into a parking lot.

Rubin comes to a rousing conclusion wherein she declares that,

The elected official who most resembles Hagel's extreme voting record and views is now former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.)...It is not a matter of simply respecting the president's choice in Hagel's case but whether a Ron Paul-like figure will become defense secretary. A yes vote is going to be mighty hard to justify to those outside of anti-Israel, Iran-regime-sympathizing circles. (Iran rejoiced when the nomination was announced.) And you have to ask, if Obama values Hagel and takes his counsel, why wouldn't he listen to him on his out-of-the-mainstream views on Iran and Israel?

All of which is, well, simply nutty. Chuck Hagel is no more like Ron Paul than he is like Tinker Bell. (If Rubin had any friends whose politics were to the left of Bill Kristol's right nut, they'd remind her that Hagel voted for the war in Iraq. Jesus, lady, get around a little, will you?) My old boss, Marty Baron, has taken over as editor of the Post. Boy, does he have a lot of work to do.